Ayala student garners top score

Vi Nguyen, an honors student and senior at Ayala High School in Chino Hills, is one of 16 students in the state to have a perfect composite score on the ACT exam for college entrance, and one of 91 to score perfect in the entire country.

In an essay she wrote, Nguyen explained her parents wanted her to be successful in school and life.

"It didn't take long for me to make a habit of keeping my grades up in school and trying my hardest in swimming, but I didn't do it just because my parents drilled this dual mantra into my head; I came to want to excel myself," she wrote. "My whole life has been, for the most part, shaped in my own self-interests and self-preservation."

Proud father Long Nguyen said his daughter a very driven and self-reliant.

"She's very good at taking care of herself, and she has a high level of responsibility," Nguyen said. "Whatever is there she just puts her effort."

Nguyen has applied to Georgetown, Yale, Harvard, Brown, Stanford universities, UCLA, and USC.